


Time's Up

by Jazz_in_the_Tardis



Series: Doctor Who Ficlets [2]
Category: Doctor Who, Doctor Who (2005)
Genre: Character Death In Dream, F/M, Gen, Horror, Nightmares
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-07-24
Updated: 2015-07-24
Packaged: 2018-04-10 23:58:39
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 609
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/4412996
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Jazz_in_the_Tardis/pseuds/Jazz_in_the_Tardis
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Rose has a nightmare.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Time's Up

Everything was dark. The sound of a clock ticked faintly in the distance. Rose couldn’t see her own hand in front of her. She tried to keep her breath steady as her stomach churned in fear. _What do I do?_ she thought to herself. “Doctor!” she called. No response.

 _Tick, tick, tick_ went the clock. Rose took a tentative step forward as she decided to follow the sound. Small steps, blindly, stumbling in the black.

 _Tick, tick, tick_ went the clock, growing louder, echoing Rose’s heartbeat as she picked up her pace, running now toward the sound. A spec of bright white light appeared, and Rose ran ever faster. The light grew wider and wider until she was almost engulfed by it, and then she could make out the shadow of the Doctor, his back facing her, standing in the middle of the vast whiteness. Rose laughed in relief and called to him, her voice muffled by the mechanical clanging of the clock. The Doctor turned around and smiled.

She was encased in white now as Rose ran straight into the Doctor’s arms. The Doctor wrapped himself around her and Rose could hear his hearts beating, one of them in time with the impossibly loud ticking noise.  She felt the Doctor’s chest vibrating and realized that he was saying something, and she strained to hear him against the now ear-splitting reverberation of the clock. “What?!” she yelled.

He pulled her away and held her back at arm’s length. All traces of smiles were gone and his face was grim. Suddenly, the clock ceased its ticking and the Doctor’s voice rang clear as he said in a low and sad voice: “Time’s up.”

A sudden crunching, squelching noise broke the silence as the Doctor’s chest burst open, a brilliant crimson liquid spreading across his brown suit. The Doctor did not scream but looked solemn, as the hole in his middle grew wider. Rose's mouth unhinged but no sound could come out as a hand emerged, then an arm, then an entire body climbed out of the doctor. The figure was tall and black as the night, and as its last leg came out of the doctor, the doctor’s mutilated body shriveled to the ground. Rose dropped to her knees and stared in horror at the figure that looked like a shadow of the Doctor, with bright red eyes that glowed like embers. The creature laughed a breathy laugh that echoed around her. He stepped out of pools of the Doctor’s blood and walked toward Rose, repeating her name in a menacing growl as he extended his hands out to her.

“Rose. Rose. Rose.”

“Bad wolf!” Rose cried, “Bad wolf!”

“ROSE!”

Rose shot up in bed, hearing someone’s scream then realizing it was her own. There were hands around her shoulders, shaking her, and she fought against them, slapping them away with all her might.

“Hey, stop, it’s me, I’m here!” Rose opened her eyes and saw the Doctor, her Doctor, leaning over her, his brown eyes round with concern. Rose was hyperventilating and the Doctor stroked her cheek. “Hey, it’s okay. It was just a nightmare.”

Rose stared at the Doctor. They were in their flat, lying in their bed. But Rose felt cold, his gaze piercing through her. Rose could not escape those red eyes, those terrible red eyes. “Right,” she said shakily, “just a nightmare.”

The Doctor gently pulled her into him and Rose laid her head on his chest. She could hear his heartbeat, but the rhythmic drumming that was normally a comfort now sounded far too much like the echo of a clock.

_Tick, tick, tick._


End file.
